


undoing.

by nessasnemesis



Category: Red Queen Series - Victoria Aveyard
Genre: Dungeon, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Romance, F/M, Forbidden Love, Lovers To Enemies, Mare Barrow - Freeform, Maven calore - Freeform, Maven's POV, Problematic Prince, Slow Burn, Toxic Relationship, UST, Unrequited Love, mareven
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:21:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27008008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nessasnemesis/pseuds/nessasnemesis
Summary: "You hate that after all this time. After everything you and I have both committed — you still want me."My interpretation of Mare and Maven's moment in the dungeon, which takes place during Chapter 31 of War Storm.
Relationships: Mare Barrow/Maven Calore, Mare x Maven - Relationship, Maven Calore/Mare Barrow, Maven x Mare - Relationship
Comments: 4
Kudos: 60





	undoing.

**Author's Note:**

> "hide our hearts." by me is also maven/mare.  
> let me know which one you prefer ty xo

"He broke your heart, didn't he?"

Mare only exhales, her chest falling.

"What a fool," I whisper, speaking the familiar thought aloud. It doesn't bother her. She tosses her head, letting brown and gray hair flip over her shoulder. Revealing the bare skin beneath, and the brand still clear as day. _M for Maven. M for mine. M for monster. M for Mare._

"So did you."

A sour taste floods my mouth. I expected her to quail, but I'm the one who has to look away.

My heart leapt into my chest when her feet slid, moving forward. She was just close enough that if I were to reach out my fingers to touch her, I could. But far enough so she wouldn't accidentally brush against the bars.

"I didn't want that for you." I murmured, barely audible but loud enough for her to hear. A coward, I knew that. But she had to know that no matter what, I never intended her heart to be damaged in the turmoil — one of the inevitable consequences of war.

"Oh really?" She laughed bitterly. I tensed at her tone. I lifted my gaze up at her, uneased by the moisture building up in her eyes. "You knew this would happen; you knew you'd hurt me." She spat out, enunciating each word, purposefully berating me to my very core.

"But instead—" She paused, almost contemplating for a moment. "You broke the part of me you yourself brought back to life." Her voice was surprisingly steady as the sour taste in my mouth became acidic.

She had moved close enough now that she was only a mere breath away from me, against the bars. "In a way, that makes me both the victor and vanquished." Her eyes illuminated, sparks of electricity travelling up and down her arm before she continued.

"You broke a part of me I could mend overtime. Not of the body. But of the mind." I flinched at the obvious provocation.

Her hands suddenly came in between the bars, gripping the thin linen of my shirt, holding me still. I stopped breathing at the feeling of her fingers against my chest, clinging onto me – my heart rate rising expeditiously in only a matter of seconds.

I wondered if she could feel it. The reaction she gave me. _Feel_ what she did to me.

The sensation of her hot, Red blood pulsing through her body gave me more of a thrill than I cared to admit. It had been so long since I last held her, felt any part of her. It was excruciating. _Electrifying_.

Our eyes were interlocked now. Her grip was firm, to stop my gaze from wandering and her nails dug into my flesh. "I guess, in your case, it makes me far more victorious than you'll ever be." Her voice trailed off, and her eyes seemed to soften for a moment, almost mournful.

I didn't know what to say. That was odd. I had a rebuttal for everything, anything. Mother made sure of that and yet right now — I had nothing.

Instead almost instinctually, as if it was only a mere extension of my being to do so, I lifted my hand and slowly traced the hand that was still clinging onto me. Mare's gaze flittered towards the movement. She inhaled sharply, her chest slowly rising and falling, breathing heavily. Gently, my fingers trailed over her knuckles, lingering on the scars which had yet to be healed.

This was the cruellest irony of it all. I would spend my final hours with the only thing I wanted and never could quite claim for myself. Mare was obliterative, unparalleled, and a force to be reckoned with. I knew first-hand the wrath of Mare Barrow.

It reminded me of another like her, of same worth to me as her, a long _long_ time ago. I often wondered what my life would have been like if he were still here, alive.

But dwelling on the past did nothing to aid the future. This was the path I had made for myself. And it was my price pay, to live with these choices, no matter the cost. Even if, at the time, it was him. 

Now it would be _her_.

Mare’s eyes cleared and focused once more as if waking from a dream. She snatched her hand away, wiping it down her jacket. "Don't do that," she snapped, tending her hand as if there was a fresh wound there from my touch. The corners of my lips curved upwards.

"You hate it don't you?" I laughed, tilting my head slightly.

Her eyes dart towards mine, rage simmering in her gaze. 

_Beautiful_. There was truly nothing more excruciatingly breathtaking in this world than the sight of Mare Barrow smouldering with rage.

"What?" She scowled.

I walked closer to the bars, gripping the steel, making my goad clear.

"You hate that after all this time. After everything you and I have both committed — you still want me."

Her eyes widened in shock. Her lips parted slightly, in attempts of a refutation — but even she couldn't lie that well. Not to me. And not about this. _Us_.

Her mouth curved into a delicious scowl. Horror and shame glimmered in her gaze. "That's rich." Her words came out fast. I smiled lazily, quirking my brow at her poor attempt of denial.

"Don't act all high and mighty Maven," she sneered. My flesh prickled slightly from the sound my name on her tongue.

_I wanted to lick it out of her mouth._

"You hate it just as much." She took a step closer towards the cage, my prison. The one she put me in. "You hate that no matter how far you get. No matter all your wins and all of your losses." Her fingers curled around the steel bars, the only thing separating me from her.

"Your biggest loss will forever be me." My breath hitched.

She stepped forward, so close our lips touch. Part. Her breath whispered across my skin and my nerves hum, spark.

"Not Elara. Not the crown. Me."

And then she's kissing me, even as I fight to catch my breath, and every thing, every thought and worry is wicked away, replaced by the feel of her mouth against my own.

A gasp tore from my throat, struck off guard by her action. But I was even more surprised with my innateness to move my mouth along with hers.

My whole body was alert, alive with sick desire, embarrassing in its intensity. A deep ache throbbed in the pit of my stomach. I wanted her. _Now_. And for some infuriating reason, she wanted me just as much.

We struggled against the bars of my cell as I brought my hands around the poles to clasp her cheeks, soft, transferring my craving, my need for her through my lips. For a moment I hesitated, overwhelmed by her physical admission before she drew my bottom lip into her mouth and bit it gently.

I didn't need any more convincing.

"The door." Crushing my lips against hers, in between breaths. "Open the door. Now." Mare's eyes suddenly flashed in fraught realisation, and she stumbled away from my embrace. I drew suddenly cold, trembling from the loss of contact. Her expression mirrored my own, surprise and a little horror.

And yet, I had never wanted a person more.

"How do I know you won't run?" She asked, breathless. Her chest wavered slightly attempting to regain some form of steadiness. Mare levelled a withering stare in my direction. I met her — glare for glare.

"You don't." I said firmly. Her eyes flashed, visibly hurt. I released a breath slowly. "But trust me when I tell you there's nothing and no one I want right now, more than you."

Her breath quivered slightly from my confession. It was up to her now. _Her choice._ It had always ever been her choice.

Slowly, unbearably slow, she unlatched and opened the door. We stared at each for a heartbeat. Our breathes deep, heavy. Our bodies humming with desire and trepidation.

Then suddenly and all at once, my mouth was on hers. My fingers dug into her sides, gripping her hips before pulling her towards a nearby wall. We stumbled slightly and she laughed breathlessly. My chest throbbed at the sound and I couldn't help the smile that formed on my lips. I couldn't quite believe my luck.

She pushed me back against the wall, our positions now switched. Her kisses were merciless, a benediction. They were as if she was dying, and maybe— apart of her was. We were committing an act that went against everything we were both fighting for. For me; my mother, my country and the crown. For her; her people, Cal and herself.

She kissed me anyway, and I her.

Her hands burned as they drew down my throat, down my chest. Burned and trembled. I tilted my head back against the cool stone, breathing deeply as she trailed kisses over my jaw, my throat — I had never ached for another person like this, a deep fervent need I couldn't explain as anything lucid.

She untucked my shirt and inched it up my torso, revealing the skin of my stomach. My ribs. My chest. Before pulling it up and over my head. I wanted her to have her way with me — treachery and all — but the need to taste her, _all of her_ , overrode my need to be savoured.

I gripped her chin, prying her mouth from my skin before ravishing her mouth with my own. Pushing her forward, my lips still on hers, I pressed her up against the wall. Our roles reversed once more.

Lips parting, I trailed warm, open-mouthed kisses down the side of her throat and onto her shoulder. My tongue moved slowly, worshipping her with each stroke, circling and laving over her sensitive flesh. She shuddered beneath my touch, murmurs of purple sparks trailing her arms.

Her jacket fell off her shoulders, and I tugged the hem of her shirt up and off her before our lips came crashing down on one another. I trailed my fingers up and down her spine before pulling back, to admire the sight before me.

My breath was heavy as I took in Mare's breasts, stomach— tracking her flushed cheeks, unruly hair and little pink marks across her skin.

“Fucking beautiful.” I breathed. Her skin flushed deeper.

If I were a believer, I'd swear Mare would be my Saviour.

I trailed a finger between her breasts, and fresh gooseflesh erupted in my wake. I ran my fingertips down her ribs, lingering on her hips. She shivered under my heated touch, panting. No flamemaker bracelets but the heat emitting from the both of us was more than enough.

She looked at me and blinked, as through a fog. "We can't do this." She whispered with a kind of amazed disbelief in her voice.

"I know." I whispered back, kicking off my boots. Her hands shook slightly before I captured them and kissed her knuckles with a kind of reverence I wasn't accustomed to.

Then, slowly Mare leaned in and kissed me. It was as if we were kissing for the first time. Her mouth moved along mine, painstakingly slow as if she were mapping out the curve of my lips with hers, imprinting it to her memory. It was barely a kiss but the gentleness, the tenderness of it shook me, rattled me to the core. It was like nothing I had ever felt before.

She released me only to inch her fingers down my waist. _For once,_ it seemed we were both on a united front with our intentions _._ She eased my trousers down my hips, my thighs, my ankles, trailing kisses down every inch of pale skin she revealed.

I pulled her back up, sliding one of my hands to the back of her neck, tilting her head back, and ravishing her mouth with my own. I felt greedy for something. Needy. My other hand stilled on her waistband, asking for permission. She nodded, breathless.

Relief swept through my body alongside a sense of exhilaration I had never dared myself to feel. Or was ever allowed to feel.

I pulled at her trousers, and she twisted to oblige, helping me drag them down her legs. When they caught on her shoes, a low, impatient sound escaped me. Her body shivered from the sound. I shucked each boot off hastily, ignoring everything but the need for our bodies to be against each other.

I went on my knees, noticing a sudden gleam in Mare's eyes. I realised then how thrilling it must have felt to have me before her like this.

On my knees. For her. _Only for her._

Maven Calore. Former King and Prince of Norta. The flame of the North. Willingly on my knees for the lightning girl, a girl with Red blood. An enemy of the people and so by default, my enemy. She was the baseborn of our race and yet, I was the one of my knees before her.

But I never saw them like that. Not her. _Never,_ Mare. She was my equal and more. Far more than anyone else in this Godforsaken world.

Mare was my undoing and we both knew it.

I fumbled with the last piece of silk between her thighs, stripping them down and off her legs before she was bare before me. I kissed her inner thighs, and goosebumps rose along her. A thrill murmured through me at her body’s reaction to my touch.

Then, eyes locked on hers, I lower my mouth onto her. Dragging a whimper of anticipation from her lips, I spread her wide, fingers sliding inside her even as I dropped my face to consume her. She inhaled sharply, her head rolling back against the wall as I explored her. I captured her flesh with my mouth, delving into the warmth and dampness with firm, determined strokes.

I had missed the feeling of her against my lips, my tongue. Her taste. Her scent. Her laugh. Her smile. Her secrets.

 _Her_.

She was extraordinarily singular. I knew that if death didn't claim me, no matter how much longer I walked this Earth, I would never meet another like Mare Barrow.

I gripped her thighs as I went between her folds. She quivered beneath my lips, her fingers laced into my hair, pulling and tugging giving me slight shocks. Her body moved of its own accord—or tried to. My arms held her firmly in place, and there was no matching the sinful treachery.

Mare sobbed as pleasure stole over her, need that had long been denied building in her core as my tongue teased over her sensitive flesh, my fingers stroking deeper, her body turning liquid beneath my touch. She ground against me, her fingers caught in my hair, the world spinning faster and faster until she was on the brink.

Then, with grave reluctance, I pulled away from her, kissing the inner flesh of her thigh once more. She whimpered from the loss of contact.

"Not yet." I whispered against her flesh, kissing a fiery path up her stomach, beginning just above the apex of her thighs. Observing how everything under my mouth tightened, throbbed.

I lifted my face up and kissed the hollow between her breasts. It was surprisingly gentle and lingering, almost reverent compared to what had just occurred. I turned my head and trailed my lips over the inner swell of her breast before my mouth closed over a nipple, hot and demanding. She gasped, her back arching from the sensation.

Her leg skimmed up my thigh, hooking around my hip. With a ragged sound, I grabbed her leg and released her breast from my lips with a wet sound before trailing my lips up her neck and along her jaw. I caught her lobe with my teeth, gnawing before murmuring in her ear.

"You want this. Me. Don't you Mare?"

She smiled wickedly as I groaned against her, my muscles flexing as she took hold of me. She stroked me from tip to stem, stoking my desire as she rubbed me against her wet slit. Then she breathed into my ear, "What do you think Maven?"

I made an inaudible sound before shifting my hands under her thighs and lifting her. Mare's back hit the wall as I hooked her legs around my waist. Her body met mine, and I pressed in, the hardest parts of me against the softest parts of her. I met her eyes once more, asking, silently begging before she answered me with a kiss.

Nothing could prepare us for the sensation of her slickness surrounding me. She gasped when I guided myself into her, her back pressing into the stone. She gave a faltering moan, her head dropping to my shoulder, before arching herself onto me. I began to move mercilessly within her, her thighs clenching around me.

There was a wildness to it. A desperation, as if we'd both been deprived too long of water and needed to drink. There were only the sounds of our wet kisses, our bodies coming together and parting, and our moans.

“I hate you,” she says through gritted teeth, moving with me, taking her pleasure.

“You love me,” I say, and there’s a moment, a split second where we both stop. Where we’re suspended in time. And I look at her eyes and I think it’s true.

“I’ll never love you,” she says, her voice strange as she wraps her arms around me, closing those eyes, burying her face in my shoulder and grinding against me. “Never.”

_ Liar. _

I slowed my frantic thrusts when a peculiar urge overtook me. I grazed the backs of my fingers across her cheek, studying her parted lips and her lusty eyes, dragging her bottom lip down with my thumb, pulling a sigh from her. She peered back at me and almost smiled as she reached up to brush her fingertips along my jaw, before sliding one of her hands to the back of my neck to have our lips meet once more.

I pushed my body against hers harder, giving myself to her completely. My hand came down in between us as I increased the pace, stroking her with relentless determination.

"Maven." She whimpered as her muscles went taut and rigid, and then she was convulsing without control, trembling and quaking as the heat of the bliss sunk into her bloodstream and swept throughout her entire body. The ripples of her muscles around me had brought me that much closer to my own release. I waited until she had absorbed all she could from hers until I cried out her name, delivering one final shuddering thrust and intense shards of ecstasy sliced through me.

We sank down to the ground, and she embraced her arms around my shoulders, completely undone, trembling. Her chin rested atop my head; my arms encased around her before I began to stroke absent-minded circles against her back as our breathing gradually steadied.

But my heart remained constant, thumping erratically in my chest. Skin on skin, I felt Mare's own heart hammering in time with my own.

And I knew, _I just knew_ that if this was our goodbye — I would be ok with that.

**Author's Note:**

> oioi this is probs the steamiest shit i've ever written...  
> let me know your thoughts on this & thanks for reading :)  
> if you're genuinely interested in more from me lmk
> 
> 11/12 - Y'ALL i'm currently a post-war storm one shot of these two and SHEESH. keep your eyes peeled. might have to rate it an E...
> 
> All characters and the inspiration for this piece belong to Victoria Aveyard.


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